The Lioness of Fate
by King of Ferrets
Summary: due to Kaleidoscope mishaps, Sakura summons a fiery redhead instead of a purple haired beauty
1. Summoning

**Here is my attempt at a cross between Fate, and song of the lioness, I was considering having Alanna be summoned in place of Saber, but I like her Character too much. I also considered her as archer since she is second only to Diane who is a demigod, but decided against it for the same reason as I like Archer's character**

_"Bare and silver and iron. Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My great master Shweinorg for the ancestor._  
 _A wall for the descending winds. The four gates shall close and come out the crown. Let the three-forked road to the kingdom cycle."_

Matou Sakura Chants. The disgusting worm Zouken is forcing her to participate in the stupid grail war so he can have immortality.

 _" I announce.  
Thy body shall be under my command, my fate shall be determined by thy sword.  
Follow the call of the Holy Grail. If thou wouldst obey this mind and this reason, then answer my call." _

Sakura doesn't want to fight; she doesn't want her disgusting grandfather to get his wish, but what can she do? The disgusting crest worms in her body prevent her from disobeying. All she wants is to live peacefully with her senpai, and ignore mage craft entirely. Her only wish is to be free of Zouken's control and to be able to live her own life. As she chants she prays to every deity she has ever heard about or read about to give her a servant that can kill her demon of a grandfather so she can be free of him. Shinji can go screw himself for all she cares, but despite everything, all she can do is pity him since he too is trapped by Zouken's will.

 _"I do swear.  
I am the one who shall become the virtue of all afterworld.  
I am the one who shall lay out the evil of all afterworld." _

As she finishes her chant she makes one last plea to the gods. This time a blanket plea to any god or goddess that can hear her.

" _Thou art Seven Heavens clad in the Three Great Words.  
Emerge from the ring of control, guardian of balance…!"_

Under any other circumstance, her plea to the gods would grant her Medusa who would in time grow to be her greatest friend and confidant. This time however, due to three separate versions of Zelretch from three separate worlds all sneezing simultaneously, a quirk of the kaleidoscope let her plea reach the great mother goddess of Tortall. Hearing Sakura's desperate plea for help from the gods, the Goddess takes a moment to understand Saukra's plight, and another to come up with a solution. She decided. The girl would get a servant. The goddess took one more moment to decide which of her chosen heroes would be able to help the girl. She decided.

There is a great light. A puff of smoke. When the smoke clears, standing in the summoning circle is a woman. She stands a head taller than Sakura, and is wearing gold washed mail and a pristine silver breastplate. On her hands she wears gauntlets of the same color as her breast plate. Covering her legs is more gold washed mail with armor plates of the same silver color as well as armored greaves of that same pristine silver. On her arm is a shield emblazoned with a black tower on a red field, and belted to her waist is a sword with a jeweled hilt with a crystal on its pommel. Her hair is what Sakura notices first. The knight (for what else could she be) has hair so vividly red that Sakura wonders if the knight might be related to senpai. The second and most striking thing Sakura notices is the knight's eyes. Their bright violet hue is almost the same shade as Sakura's hair. The third standout about the knight is the gem she wears around her neck; it is the size of a cat's head; it is black, but flickers like a flame with reds and oranges dancing inside the gem.

The knight looks at Sakura and says, "By will of the Goddess and following the summons of the Holy Grail, I come. I am Servant Rider; I ask of you, are you my master?" Before Sakura can answer, Zouken chuckles, "Excellent girl, you have summoned your servant, now once the last servant has been summoned, you will kill them all, masters included. Once I have my wish, the grail is yours to do what you please." Zouken is lying and he knows it. If all goes well, then Sakura will become his black grail, and he will have access to infinite prana to do what he pleases. If his plans fail, then oh well, he has enough time to wait. Besides, the girl might actually win, if she does, then he can use the crest worms to force her to do his bidding. The thought brings a smile to his face.

Rider looks at Zouken, and when she sees him, she says, "You, you are a demon." This makes Zouken laugh and he responds, "No, we are still standing in my basement are we not?" Rider is confused for a second before she snaps back, "No, you are a soul stealing demon, you are like the Ysander." This time it's Zouken's turn to be confused, but he still chuckles and says, "well then, I guess I should work on my perception of reality." Sakura is nonplussed about this but weakly says, "Rider… please don't." Rider looks over at Sakura and sees the command seals. Her gaze softens and she kneels down and says, "So you're my master huh?" Sakura, surprised at the gentleness in Riders voice smiles a bit, and says, "Y-yeah, by my right of the command seals, I am you're master. What is my servant's name?" Alanna smiles in return and gently says, "I am Alanna of Trebond and Olau, Baroness of Pirate's Swoop."

Zouken looks at the scene, and sees Sakura smiling and he smiles himself. It is not a happy smile like Sakura's, but a cruel smile one that would not be out of place on the demon Rider named him. He could use this, with Rider bringing her up, he could drive her deeper into the depths of despair so she would become the perfect black grail. Zouken chuckles one last time walking away all the while thinking, " _A demon huh, that's not a bad idea."_ There was no way to know it, but at Rider's remark, she set Zouken on a path that Satan himself would approve of.


	2. Alanna's Stats

**A stat sheet I threw together for Alanna. Making this sheet was way more fun than it had any right to be. This sheet is pretty much finalized, and I will be using it as reference throughout the rest of the story.**

Alanna: The lioness

Strength – B

Endurance – C+

Agility – B

Mana – B+

Luck – B

 **Class Skills**

 **Riding** **B** : Most vehicles can be handled with above average skill. However, Alanna cannot ride the likes of _Phantasm Races_ such as _Monstrous Beasts_.

 **Magic Resistance** **B** (A if summoned as saber): Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by _High-Thaumaturgy_ and _Greater Rituals_ , it is difficult for her to be affected.

 **Personal Skills**

 **Affections of the Goddess A** : as the chosen knight of the great mother goddess, Alanna gains a rank up on all stats upon entering combat

 **Battle Continuation A** : Makes possible to fight even with deadly injuries and can remain alive so long as one does not receive a decisive fatal wound.

 **Bravery** **A+** : Bonus effect of increasing melee damage.

 **Eternal Arms Mastership B** : Mastership of combat arts has reached the point of being said to be unrivaled in one's era. At B rank, lets Alanna keep fighting at full skills even when fatigued or when under mid-level mental hindrance curses.

 **Eye of the Mind (True)** **B** : Capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. So long there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of winning.

 **Guardian Knight B** : as the Kings champion of Tortall, Alanna is sworn to defend the weak and powerless. At B rank, when defending someone weaker than her, she gains a rank up in endurance and half a rank up in strength.

 **Magecraft EX** : Tortall's magic is purely an effort of will with words used only as a focus. As Alanna can theoretically cast any magic, her Magic can't be ranked.

 **Weak Constitution E** : Gets motion sickness

 **Noble Phantasms**

 **Lightning** : The sword of the old ones: Anti-Unit **A** : A sword that never grows dull found by Alanna in ruins found in Barony Olau. forged to kill Demons known as the Ysandir, it has strong Anti-Demon properties. When drawn in the presence of an enemy with demonic atributs or demonic weaponry, the jewel on the hilt glows and the enemy gets a rank down in all stats, and they find it harder to block fatal blows. When invoked, the sword releases a beam of holy light in the direction the sword is pointing, instantly killing any demons it contacts, and wounds those with demonic attributes or demonic weapons with a grievous wound that won't heal. Non demons with no demonic attributes or demonic weapons just take holy damage.

 **The Ember Stone** : Token of the Goddess: Support **B** : a stone that burns with inner fire that isn't hot. Being made by the Goddess herself, it is unaffected by any mortal magic. Putting her hand to it allows Alanna to see any and all magic, and will alert her to dangerous presences. While using it, it makes presence concealment useless around Alanna.

 **Coat of Arms** : The lioness Rampant: Barrier **B+** : A shield enchanted by her brother who was hailed as the greatest in the eastern lands to never break or dent. Uninvoked, it is possible to break when faced with a higher ranked Noble phantasm. When invoked, the image on the shield changes from the Trebond coat of arms to her personal symbol, the lioness rampant. While invoked, as long as a steady stream of prana is fed to it, nothing short of an A+ noble phantasm can even dent it it.

 **Faithful** : the celestial star cat: support **A+** : the larger than average black cat with purple eyes that accompanied Alanna through most of her adventures. Alanna can summon him. Faithful is fully sentient and can decide who can understand him and who cannot. As a constellation Faithful is practically a god. As such, he has magic of his own but is less then inclined to use it since normally he isn't allowed to. Faithful doesn't need prana from Alanna to remain on the mortal plain, but should she be slain, faithful will disappear. Until someone sees his purple eyes, people can't tell that faithful is anything other than an ordinary cat. If faithful is killed, Alanna cannot resummon him, and her bravery falls to B rank.

 **Vervain** : Support from the goddess: Anti-self **A** : Multiple times in her legend, Alanna has burned the herb vervain to ask for the goddess' help. As a noble phantasm, if Alanna burns vervain and says an incantation, the goddess will overcharge Alanna with Mana. This effectively gives her four times her max prana. She must use it and bring her levels back down to normal, or she will be killed by the massive amount of prana in her system. Vervain can be planted in the ground to grow more. If more is grown then the offspring will remain in the world even if Alanna were to be slain. Vervain grown this way can be used by people other than Alanna

 **Moonlight** : the mount of the knight: Support **C** : Alanna's horse that she used in her legend. Due to the prophesy of Alanna being the burning brightly one, Moonlight gives of a minor fiery aura.


	3. The first day

A scream rips through the night, the homeless of Fuyuki are disappearing one by one, and each scream is one more gone. Zouken grins as his bugs eat. To him, the homeless are bug food, just good for being fed on for prana. " _Rider isn't wrong_ " Zouken thinks, " _it may have been her idea, but using my bugs to turn people into prana is surprisingly efficient._ " Zouken grins once more as another scream rips through the night. Zouken chuckles as his bugs feed on a child that was in the wrong place at the right time. " _A lot of prana from that one, might have had a couple of circuits._ " Zouken walks home having fed enough for one night. As he heads home, he passes by a blonde foreigner. Zouken considers eating him, but decides against it since it's too close to the Tohsaka residence. So Zouken continues onward into the nights embrace.

The blonde foreigner turns to watch Zouken disappear into the night before saying, "Ohhh, that old worm could be something interesting. I'll keep my eye on him." The foreigner chuckles a cruel chuckle, and continues on his way, into the darkness of the night.

The next morning Sakura wakes up early, she doesn't want to be late to her senpai's house, she doesn't want him to have to do the cooking. As she gets up, Rider Materializes into physical form, "Good morning master" she says bowing. Sakura smiles lightly, and says, "Good morning Rider." Sakura makes her way over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. On the way over, she is stopped by Shinji. "Good morning Sa-ku-ra chan." He says in a cruel way, "I heard from jiji that you are going to participate in the Holy Grail war." He puts arm arm over her shoulder, and continues, "Iknow you're not a fighter, so why don't you give me your servant, I'll do a much better job then you could." He pauses and starts molesting Sakura, "I'm sure you'll agree won't you? Of course you-" whatever Shinji was going to say is stopped as he is flung into a wall by an angry Rider, "Keep your hands off of my master you sick bastard, or I'll cut them off." Shinji makes a pitiful squeak, and doesn't say anything else since there is a sword pointed at his face. There is the other reason Sakura can only pity Shinji, as soon as he is faced with someone he can't bowl over, he turns into a quivering wreck of cowardice. "I-I'll remember this, y-you won't get away with this!" Then Shinji runs off. For all of his muster and bluster, Shinji is naught but a pitiful existence kept around by Zouken as an amusement. Sakura doesn't smile, but she weakly says, "Thank you Rider, but I'll get in trouble with ji-san for this, and get punished." The memory of such punishments make her involuntarily shudder. "Master, why do you stand for his molesting?" she says with venom. Sakura sighs a little as she heads into the bathroom. "It's as I said, he'll tell ji-san, and I can't disobey him." Rider snorts and says, "Yes you can, if I could pass as a boy for ten years to undergo knight training, then I think you can do something simple like disobeying your grandfather."

Sakura smiles weakly at her servant trying to cheer her up, but she doesn't know, the tortures she went through, the humiliation, she doesn't know. To try and get Rider to understand, she would have to tell Rider a little of the suffering she goes through. She tells Rider, "Rider, I literally **can't** disobey him, he could order me to dance naked on the roof, and I couldn't **not** do it." Rider was about to say something else when the full ramifications of what her master just said hit her. She goes stock still as Sakura gets in the bath. "Master, you mean-" Sakura cuts her off and says in a resigned tone, "Yeah, because of his disgusting worms, I wouldn't be surprised if he could order me to die, and have my heart stop beating." Tears run down her face. " _Why am I crying? I've been stuck in this hell for so long, that I know I can't do anything, so why am I crying now?_ " Sakura dark thoughts keep plaguing her as she gets out of the bath, and gets dressed.

Alanna doesn't show it, but inside she is seething, she really wants Zouken dead. She recognizes the signs; she knows that her master is almost emotionally dead. That someone would willingly do that to a person, Zouken deserves a slow and painful death. Inside her head, Alanna goes through the most painful and cruel tortures she could inflict on Zouken. "That's it, the demon must die." Alanna says as if commenting on the weather. She is brought out of her murderess rage by her master saying, "You can't kill him, people have tried, and they've all ended up as worm food." Alanna can see why her master thinks that, she put her hand to the ember stone after being summoned, she saw the power that demon can call on. Her best guess is that the old demon could match her friend Numair in pure strength. However, that's assuming a fight between humans. Alanna can feel it, as a servant, she is much stronger. She may have never been as powerful a mage as her brother Thom, or her friend Numair, but she her magic reserves were still nothing to sneeze at; and as a servant, her magic reserves are at a level that would give even Numair pause. Because of this, she feels confident when she tells her master, "Master, while yes his magic power is at a level that might, and it is a big might be able to overwhelm the weakest of servants if he surprised them, I'm not weak. Also, any magic weaker than what you would call B rank will simply break on contact with me." Alanna grins a little bit since she can guess what George or Jon would say if they heard her bragging. She actually suppresses a giggle imagining Coram's reaction.

Sakura Smiles at Rider's bravery, but as much as she would love to sic a servant on Zouken, she can't. So long as she has the disgusting worms inside of her, she can't disobey Zouken. With a sigh at her good mood being spoiled, she says to rider, "Rider, please go into spirit form, I need to go to senpai's house to help with breakfast, and then to school after that." Rider dematerializes, and Sakura heads off. As Sakura walks Rider asks, " _ **Master, there is something I forgot to ask you.**_ " Sakura doesn't stop walking at hearing Rider telepathically talking to her and responds out loud, "What is that?"

" _ **Master, what is it you want from the grail?**_ " Alanna wants to know, she is more than willing to fight for the girl, but she is worried what kind of wish she would have from being as scarred as she most likely is. Sakura stops for a second before continuing on. Alanna fears that her master might not answer, but eventually, Sakura speaks via the telepathic link and says, " _ **I would wish myself free of Grandfather. I just want to live a happy life free from magecraft. What about you Rider?**_ " Alanna doesn't even need to think about her wish, " _ **I lost loved ones during my adventures; I want to bring them back.**_ " Although the master servant link only conveys words when the master or servant wants, emotions flows freely both ways across the link unless actively blocked, and through this, Alanna can tell that her master feels a bit guilty about her selfish wish and admires Alanna's selflessness.

Sakura arrives at Shirou's house. She doesn't knock since she has a key. She enters the house expecting to see Shirou making breakfast, but he's not there. She walks over to his room and again he isn't there. She starts on breakfast since Fujimura Sensei shows up, and when it's done, she goes to find Shirou.

 **Wow, so many people are following this story already, I'm impressed. Zouken is surprisingly hard to write for. Also if anyone can guess what I hope to set up for Zouken, props to you and you get a space cookie. All righty then, I'll answer some reviews.**

 **Deer-Shifter: I personally think that Alanna would find Archer's pessimism to be too grating for them to be good friends, but I agree that she could get along with him. And I agree wholeheartedly that she would like Saber. I think that Alanna would be a good influence on Saber. Your quip on Alaya is a bit hard to understand, but in my first iteration of her stats, there were way too many personal skills, so she did have discernment of the poor at first but it was one of the ones cut out, so I'm just running with her distrust of deceivers is going to be because of past experiences.**

 **ultima-owner: Yeah, if Zouken gets hit by an invoked lightning, his current body is so dead, but one of things that makes Zouken a pain to kill is that he has parts of his soul in other vessels so he can revive in case of something like that. Also I have to disagree a little bit about Avenger. The Heroic spirit Avenger was a random person who was forced to bear the cross of all evil so that the rest of the world could live in peace, that doesn't really count as a demon; but as Angra Mainyu, the god of darkness and all evils, if that doesn't count as a demon, I don't know what does. Though I wonder if he could be killed that easily (considering what it took to kill an unborn him in HF.)**


	4. First day Cont

Searching for Shirou, Sakura goes over to the shed. The door is slightly ajar, and she can see him inside, asleep. She smiles lightly, and goes to wake him up. "Senpai? Wake up please."Shirou wakes with a start. "Wha-?"Sakura giggles and he turns his weary eyes towards her. Still waking up he recognizes Sakura. Shirou closes his eyes and gathers his bearings. He's in the shed where he keeps his projects and various broken appliances. Sakura is here to wake him up, so that means that he overslept. " _Geez, that's the second time this week"._ _He thinks to himself._

He sighs. Last night, he had stayed up to practice his magecraft. It began as it usually did, with the slow and painstaking process of creating a magic circuit. "Ah." That was why he was so tired. He had done a successful Reinforcement for once, but the effort and pain to perform it had left him drained, and he fell asleep shortly after. Shirou opens his eyes. Sakura smiles and leans back, giving Shirou some space to move. He stands up and scratches the back of his head. "Sorry Sakura," he said. "I didn't think I would be this tired..."Sakura shakes her head. "No, don't worry about it. I know Senpai works hard all day, so it's fine if you sleep in every once in a while."Shirou frowns. "But it's the second time you've had to wake me this week." He sighs. "I'm not a very good Senpai if I can't even get up in time to help you prepare breakfast, Sakura."

"That's not true at all!"Shirou is taken aback; Sakura almost never raises her voice. The purple-haired girl flushes and continues. "I like having Senpai depend on me too. You're always trying to do everything by yourself, so I like times like these when I can help you." She finishes with a radiant smile."...Eh?" Sakura blushes and turns around. "U-um, don't forget to change before you come in. I'll... I'll set the table." She rushes off before Shirou can get in a reply.

In spirit form, Alanna is smiling. It's pretty obvious that her master likes her senpai. She suspects George might be rubbing off on her, but she wonders if she can get these two together. Of course she's going to have fun teasing Sakura all the while. Slightly impishly, Alanna telepathically asks Sakura, " _ **So master, will I get an invitation to the wedding?**_ " Sakura, who is drinking tea at the time chokes, and starts coughing, Alanna chuckles as a sand haired woman rubs Sakura's back to help soothe the poor girl.

While Sakura is coughing her lungs out she tries to think of a response to Rider. Eventually she stops coughing, and asks, " _ **Rider, what was that about?**_ " in a tone that Sakura idly noted was mischievous Rider responds, " _ **Oh well it's just that its really obvious that you like him that I thought you were dating and were waiting for him to buy a ring.**_ " Sakura was going to try telling rider that she was wrong, but before she did, Rider added, " _ **Wait, could it be? Does he not realize your feelings for him when you are practically throwing yourself at him?**_ " had anyone been looking at Sakura they would be wondering why her hair hadn't caught fire from the fierceness of her blush. Fujimura sensei was still running her back

Breakfast is quiet afterwards, and it is time for Sakura to leave for archery club. While they walk, Alanna decides to tease her master some more. " _ **So, the man you fancy doesn't look bad if I say so myself.**_ " Sakura nearly trips over nothing. " _ **Are you really going to start this again? You could have gotten us caught at Senpai's house.**_ " Alanna can't help but smile. Her master is as easy to read as George says he can read her. Her master is head over heels for her senpai, and she really wants to help her out. The first step though, is to get her to admit it. " _ **I'm just trying to help you out. If you're not able to press the attack, he will get taken away by another woman. I know his type; he won't notice your feelings for him unless you flat out tell him.**_ " Sakura sputters something unintelligible through the link trying to deny it, but Alanna will have none of it. " _ **Master, you can't fool me, I have a daughter, and she is a lot harder to read. So I'm going to ask you straight out, do you like him in a more than friends way?**_ "

Sakura wants to lie, to tell Rider that she's wrong, and she doesn't like him that way, but she can't. _Is she right? Will someone else take him before I can tell him how I really fell?_ Hesitantly, Sakura thinks to Rider, " _ **Y-yes, I-I do.**_ " Rider smiles and says, " _ **Good job Master, I was worried you were going to be as stubborn about this as I was when my future husband first confessed.**_ " Sakura lightly giggles before Rider then says, " _ **You know, now that I think of it if I didn't know better, I'd think he was related to me though his gift doesn't seem very strong.**_ " Sakura frowns, she doesn't know the term, " _ **Rider, what is this gift that you speak of?**_ " This wasn't the first time that Rider has used a strange term, but usually they were just old timey words for things. With a hint of exasperation Rider responds, " _ **Magic, what else? Magic is the god's gift to man, taking the form of the sight, or the all purpose gift that you and I use.**_ " Sakura was confused, and it transmitted across the link so Rider said, " _ **Or to put into easier to understand terms, the ability to use one's magic circuits, and having naturally occurring mystic or pure eyes.**_ " Sakura nods her head in understanding before freezing in place. _Wait, does this mean that Senpai is a magus? that means he could get involved with the war not knowing anything._ Carefully collecting herself so Jii-san can't tell something interesting is happening she asks Rider, " _ **Rider, if Senpai is a magus, that means he could be pulled into the holy grail war without knowing, if possible, could you use a familiar or something of the sort to watch him to make sure he doesn't get involved?**_ " Sakura could tell that Rider was smiling through the link when she said, " _ **Of course master, it would hardly do for your lover to become involved in something that would put him at risk.**_ " Sakura's face lit up bright red and she sputtered something unintelligible while Rider was laughing at her. Rider laughed once again, and they were at school.

by the time and Sakura and Alanna had left school, the sun had set. The two had just entered the Matou property when Sakura heard a voice, "Good evening Oujou-chan." Sakura jumped and turned around to see a man in a blue body suit. He had pale skin, red eyes, and blue hair in a ponytail. He gave Sakura a feral grin and said, "Beautiful night isn't it? Makes you lust for battle doesn't it?" The man let off an aura of bloodlust as his grin grew even bigger. Alanna materialized and glared at the man. The man was a servant; Alanna knew that much for sure.


	5. The First night

Alanna glared at the grinning enemy servant, the final servant had yet to be summoned yet he was already attacking. The red eyed servant chuckled at her expression and said, "Don't be like that, we servants are creatures of battle, what's wrong with having some fun before the real battle starts?" Alanna kept glaring at the man, and materialized her shield onto her arm, and her sword and sheath at her side. The man's grin bloomed into a savage smile with teeth. He materialized his weapon, a blood red spear with veins and barbs, and most notably, bloodthirsty. Alanna was slightly taken aback at the malice the weapon was giving off, but she quickly composed herself and drew her sword. The gem began to glow in the presence of the demonic spear, and her master gasped. She quickly spared a glance at her as she felt something in her master weaken, " _ **It's fine, go get him.**_ " Alanna nodded, and took a combat stance waiting for her opponent to make a move.

Sakura gasped as Rider drew her sword, she had seen her stats and knew that the sword caused people with demonic taint to become weakened; the fact that she had become weakened in its presence meant that she had demonic taint in her. _Grandfather, what are you?_ She knew that her grandfather wasn't human; she knew this from the first moment she was forced into the pit, but she had always assumed that he was a dead apostle that skirted under the radar of the church, but they were descendants of type moon not demons, if she was being weakened by the anti-demon weapon then that meant that Rider was right, and her grandfather was in fact a demon. Sakura saw Rider glance over, and she reassured her over the link that she was fine, and she turned her attention to the fight taking place.

Lancer wanted to complain when he felt all his stats drop by one, that wasn't fair. His urge to complain was swiftly killed when he realized that the fight would be even harder, and even more fun because of that. His eyes narrowed in anticipation, as he tensed his legs like a spring. The tension built in his legs before he exploded towards the enemy servant. She blocked with her shield; he didn't recognize the coat of arms, but that was always more of a British thing so he didn't care too much. The unknown servant swung her sword at him, and he was hard pressed to dodge in time, and he got a small cut across the cheek because of it. He felt the blood run down his face, as he jumped back. He brought his hand to his face, and looked at the blood on his fingers; his grin that had died down as he inspected his cut returned in full force, as the song of battle rang a hymn in his veins, this was an opponent he would go all out against if not for the damn command seal. Crouching onto down he prepared to charge again, while he couldn't use his noble phantasm, it didn't stop him from using all of his reduced strength. Tensing up his legs again, he charged across the yard towards the enemy servant his spear met her shield with a sound like a church bell, as he saw a swing lazily go for his neck. Lancer knew that he could easily block it. Though when he tried, he found that his spear was moving too slow, he wouldn't block it time. Seeing no other choice, he dropped to the ground and rolled backwards onto his feet crouched down and ready to strike. When his opponent didn't press her advantage, he charged back in again, and began a flurry of blows. Head, heart, left kidney, and throat. Each time he struck with a speed that would put a bullet to shame, and each time, he found his blows blocked by either her shield, or her sword. He started another flurry, but instead of being blocked, his first blow was dodged. Not being able to pull his spear back in time, the enemy servant grabbed it. Astralizing her sword and shield, she grabbed it with both hands, and spun around, releasing at the peak of a revolution that sent him careening into the house putting a sizeable crater in the wall. He freed himself in less than a second and prepared to defend himself, but to his surprise the enemy servant didn't follow up, and instead assumed a stance he had seen on countless battle fields with her shield covering her organs, and her sword ready at her side. "I'm surprised Saber, you're not taking any of the advantages you are gaining, why?" a shiver went down his spine when he saw his opponent give a smile that wouldn't have been out of place on Scathatch herself when she responded, "Saber, you flatter me Lancer, but sorry to disappoint you, but I am Rider." She then chuckled and went on, "Besides, you said it yourself, this is just some fun before the real battle starts, if those are your terms of engagement, who am I to ruin your fun?" Lancer gave the newly identified Rider a toothy grin before hearing something. He cocked his head to the side, and scowled, "Sorry Rider, looks like the fun stops for tonight, my master wants to talk." Lancer dematerialized, and left.

When Alanna felt Lancer leave, she let her weapons return to an astral state. She heard her master give a sigh of relief. Figuring it would take too long to get answers otherwise, Alanna turned to her master, and asked, "Master, why did you get weaker when I drew my sword?" her master fidgeted before answering, "I don't know, I think you may be right about grandfather being a demon." She sounded scared, so Alanna wrapped her master in a hug, "Huh, R-Rider. What are you-?" Alanna didn't let her finish but started to stroke her hair, "shhh, it's going to be okay, you have nothing to fear while I'm here, I won't let anything harm you." she felt her master quiver a little before she nodded her head.

Sakura was surprised when Rider started to hug her, she honestly couldn't remember the last time someone did that to her, and she was interrupted before she could ask why. When Rider began to comfort her, she felt a knot of emotion thaw a little. It had been a long time since there was someone she could rely on, and even longer still since someone has shown her open affection. She teared up a little, and shook a little, but she nodded her head at Rider's assurances, and returned the hug. For the first time in many many years, she felt safe.

Zouken smiled at watching Sakura through the window, the happier she became, the more intense the rebound would be. Soon, he would arrange for Rider's death, and when the only source of love for her was destroyed, Zouken gave a sick grin as he thought of the results. A black grail, he would have to kill the Einzbern lesser grail, and feed it to Sakura. The power involved would grant his wish, and he would have a personal grail for whenever he needed a wish. He turned from the window as shadows began lapping at him. _Soon, soon the hive will be complete_. His dark cackles filled the house and caused shudders in those that heard, namely Shinji.

Alanna dematerialized, and followed her master into the house. She said that she would get someone to watch her master's senpai. An idea came to her, and if she were visible, people would be able to see her grinning like a mad man. Her grin instantly dropped when the old demon came into view. "Girl," the old demon said in his sickening voice, "I see that you had a fight outside the house. Now there is a dent in the wall. So, what are you going to do to prevent it from happening again?" Alanna could feel her masters will being sapped by the presence of the demon, so she sent encouragement over their bond. Her master gathered what will power she had and blankly said, "I have identified an auxiliary base I can use, and will use it for the rest of the war if you allow it." Alanna could see the demon think as he said, "Fine, but you will have to come back once every few weeks for stabilizing." Alanna saw her master simply nod, as she went to her room to grab her stuff. Once her master had her bag, the two left the mansion as fast as politely possible. Once they were outside Alanna noted that her master had visibly relaxed. " _ **Is there any way you can free yourself from that demon?**_ " She had to know, that thing in human skin screamed at her instincts to destroy it as soon as she could. " _ **I don't know, there are crest worms close enough to my heart, that trying to remove them could kill me.**_ " Alanna felt the wave of sadness, and decided that she had to do something to cheer her master up. Materializing, Alanna put kneeled down, and put her hand to the ground. "Rider, what are-" Alanna interrupted her master by putting a finger to her lips before chanting, _"Faithful my old friend, I have need of your wisdom once more. Please, descend from the heavens, and stand by my side one more!"_

When Rider suddenly materialized, Sakura tensed up thinking they were about to be attacked again. When Rider kneeled down and put her hand to the ground, Sakura was confused at her servant's actions. She started to voice her confusion when one of her servant's fingers was pressed against her lips. Sakura quieted down, and watched as Rider began to chant. While she was chanting, Sakura saw her servant softly glowing purple. When Rider finished her chant a series of lights appeared, and started to take shape. At first the shape was indistinct, and blotchy, as if it couldn't decide what shape it should be taking. But soon the lights began to shrink, and solidify. Once the light stopped shrinking, the now cat sized blob continued to absorb light, as it began to change shape one more. It grew legs and a tail, as its body became more defined. It was sleek, and streamlined. Its head was the next thing to take shape. It had pointed ears, and a sharp snout. It was a mana formed cat. The light then started to dim as bones then muscle, then skin appeared. Finally, the cat's fur grew out, and was black. The cat looked around in confusion, saw Rider, and its eyes widened. It gave out a happy sounding meow, and hopped onto her shoulder. Rider laughed and gave the cat a good scratching. When both servant and cat calmed down, Rider started quietly explaining everything to the cat. Once she had finished, the cat turned to her and she noticed its purple eyes. _How did I miss that before?_ Rider picked up the cat, and set it on the ground. "Master, meet one of my closest friends, his name is Faithful. Faithful this is my Master Sakura." The cat meowed in greeting, and Sakura was taken aback that she could actually interoperate his meows as actual words. She looked over at Rider questioningly and she simply said, "He's magic." Sakura was still slightly confused, but she would deal with it, she always did. She asked rider to dematerialize, and picked up faithful. The cat wrapped himself around her neck settled down. Sakura lightly smiled, adjusted her bag, and scratched Faithful's chin as she walked.

* * *

 **Finally, I've been meaning to get this finished for ages. Thankfully I was struck with inspiration at 3 am this morning, and finished this up. Gods all writing fight scenes is hard. Anyway, I'm not dead, and as usual I'll get the next one out eventually… probably… maybe**


End file.
